"Must have" iPad apps?

So, given the impending arrival of my new iPad, I'm looking to scope out the apps I'm going to want. In short, what would you say are the "must have" apps? What are some other recommendations, that aren't necessarily "must haves"?

If it helps, here's my personal situation:

- This is a 32 GB LTE version.- The only other mobile devices I have are a newest-gen iPT and a dumb phone. Since I don't have a laptop or a smartphone, I can't even fully grasp all the use cases.

Flipboard is amazing, unfortunately, the facebook integration has absurd control over your profile (for example, access info from your entire profile when you are not logged into Facebook). Because of this, I don't want to sign up for a flipboard account, so I'm not getting the most out of it.

Another vote for Tweetbot for Twitter – it's a bit overwrought sometimes, but it's nice, especially if you use other clients that support TweetMarker. So far as Facebook goes, I've not really got any complaints about the official Facebook app (don't bother with any of the third-party Facebook clients; they're all terrible). I use Verbs to connect to Google and Facebook's instant messaging networks.

Reeder is my RSS reader of choice, complete with the obligatory Google Reader sync. For longer form articles, Instapaper is great.

GoodReader is worth having – it'll come in handy at some point. I tend to end up using it to work with zip files emailed to me.

Air Video does a wonderful job streaming pretty much any video file from my Mac (there are other apps like this, and I haven't tried them – Air Video works great for me).

Those plus the inbuilt apps probably account for more than 95% of the time I spend on my iPad. Honourable mentions to Magical Weather for detailed but not overwhelming weather forecasts, and the venerable PCalc if you need a calculator (and it does unit conversion, too!).

PDF Expert for managing an enormous library of PDFs and other documents (including organization, annotation, editing, etc.)Noteshelf, along with a Griffin stylus, as a sketch pad, notebook, to-do list, and everything in-between. It's brilliantly functional and beautifully designed.

There are literally dozens of app choices for these two functions, but having bought and tried more than I'm willing to admit, these set themselves clearly apart in terms of UI and features (important to me; YMMV). These two plus Safari and my New York Times Newsstand subscription are 90% of what I use my iPad for.

The only cases I have are a smart cover (pretty much an essential addition), plus a padded case for travel, but my ultra-crafty fiancé made that for me.

And you need a Tom Bihn CoPilot: http://www.tombihn.com/page/001/PROD/300/TB0967 - along with a T.B. Cache or other horizontal slip case and T.B. Absolute Shoulder Strap, this is an incredible iPad bag. But not if your fiancé made you a case, goodness me no.

And you need a Tom Bihn CoPilot: http://www.tombihn.com/page/001/PROD/300/TB0967 - along with a T.B. Cache or other horizontal slip case and T.B. Absolute Shoulder Strap, this is an incredible iPad bag. But not if your fiancé made you a case, goodness me no.

I have a Tom Bihn shoulder bag/murse (the "ID") ... it's fantastic. Has travelled with me all over the U.S. and still looks brand new. Really exceptional craftsmanship. I can only imagine their other products are as good.

And you need a Tom Bihn CoPilot: http://www.tombihn.com/page/001/PROD/300/TB0967 - along with a T.B. Cache or other horizontal slip case and T.B. Absolute Shoulder Strap, this is an incredible iPad bag. But not if your fiancé made you a case, goodness me no.

I have a Tom Bihn shoulder bag/murse (the "ID") ... it's fantastic. Has travelled with me all over the U.S. and still looks brand new. Really exceptional craftsmanship. I can only imagine their other products are as good.

If you do any html/web stuff, be sure to check out Textastic... it's a nice code editor, sftp client. I've bought and tried the top 3: Textastic, Gusto and Koder. There's aspects of each that I like, but overall Textastic is my fav so far.

Alarm Clock Pro is good, if you want more powerful alarms.

Byline is a great Google Reader account... although I'm using Flipboard more now.

Of course Google Earth is always nice to have.

For weather and storm chasing, nothing beats the combo of RadarScope and Lightning Finder.

Dropbox is another great tool.

Check your TV/Cable provider... most have apps that are good for controlling your DVR and in some cases, your TV. Speaking of which, I am using the hell out of BuddyTV now, it controls my ATT Uverse TV box, so I can use my iPad to control my home theatre and it's an a pretty great interactive guide, even controls Netflix, which is awesome.

Of course, a must have if you have an Apple TV is Apple's own remote.app as well. Great stuff.

++Plants vs. Zombies has been out for a while, but plays really well on the iPad. So much so, I prefer the iPad version to the Mac version. Pirates! made the transition to the iPad really well too. Heavy on the nostalgia if you played previous releases.

Most of my other faves are media apps like Netflix and the Canadian TV network apps <= not helpful, I know. Safari will be awesome with the added RAM too.

Check your TV/Cable provider... most have apps that are good for controlling your DVR and in some cases, your TV. Speaking of which, I am using the hell out of BuddyTV now, it controls my ATT Uverse TV box, so I can use my iPad to control my home theatre and it's an a pretty great interactive guide, even controls Netflix, which is awesome.

Ooh, this is a great suggestion. Along the same lines, a lot of modern, network/Internet aware media electronics like tv sets and receivers also have first and third party control apps in the App Store. For example, LG has an iPad app that can be used to control most of their recent Smart TVs.

I've already played both of these on the PC. I know SpaceChem has an iPad version, which I might get if there was some way to sync the saves with my PC. (is there?) Carcassone is just an unspeakably awful game, I'll stick to Titan and Puerto Rico, thanks. There's actually quite a lot of board game ports in the pipeline for 2012, including many wargames.

I've already played both of these on the PC. I know SpaceChem has an iPad version, which I might get if there was some way to sync the saves with my PC. (is there?) Carcassone is just an unspeakably awful game, I'll stick to Titan and Puerto Rico, thanks. There's actually quite a lot of board game ports in the pipeline for 2012, including many wargames.

I bought Gesundheit for the iPad I'm about to get. The screenshots look amazing, and it was 2.99. I figured I'd give it a shot.

Various shopping apps, this is more about convenience than necessity, but they tend to be much easier to use than just Safari- NewEgg has a very well implemented app- Windowshop (Amazon graphical shopping app, pretty nice for browsing)- Amazon

A thing to look for is search for business you deal with all the time and see if they have an app, a surprising amount do. My local Credit Union has a very nice app that I can even deposit checks from (I hate driving to the bank), as well as my credit card company and insurance company.

Niche apps that I use daily:- Indigo Touch (Home automation controller, Insteon, requires a Mac running the server software)- iMasterControl (no longer available but there are equivalents, for controlling A/V equipment through iTach hardware) - offers an all in one solution to equipment control vs OEM apps, all though OEM apps tend to be more full featured. Does work even when the OEM app craps out (I'm looking at you DirecTV!)

Yes! You'll love this game, until you get to the 13th level at which point you'll want to murder small animals. I've had to set it aside for a couple weeks, as the repeated failed attempts to get past the spider queen stage was giving me fantasies of flinging my iPad off our 2nd floor balcony.

Another great iPad game I don't think anyone has mentioned is Macinarium, a port of the popular Flash/MacOS/Windows click-and-solve adventure. If you haven't already played it through on one of those other platforms, it's beautiful and clever with a great soundtrack.

On the topic of astronomy.... There were two RIDICULOUSLY bright objects in the sky (kinda northwestish) in Toronto last night. Any one know what they were?

Star Walk. Seriously, if you are at all prone to looking up at the night sky you need this.

EDIT: I notice the description doesn't mention that iPad2 can also do the augmented reality display. Just your camera's view of the sky with identifying labels overlaid. Like regular view it tracks your movements with the gyroscope so your iPad becomes an interactive viewfinder—just hold it up in the air and move it around as if you were looking through the screen at the sky beyond. It's totally cool.

On the topic of astronomy.... There were two RIDICULOUSLY bright objects in the sky (kinda northwestish) in Toronto last night. Any one know what they were?

Star Walk. Seriously, if you are at all prone to looking up at the night sky you need this.

EDIT: I notice the description doesn't mention that iPad2 can also do the augmented reality display. Just your camera's view of the sky with identifying labels overlaid. Like regular view it tracks your movements with the gyroscope so your iPad becomes an interactive viewfinder—just hold it up in the air and move it around as if you were looking through the screen at the sky beyond. It's totally cool.

Sadly, I wouldn't be able to use that much, as I live in a city. You can hardly see the stars at all, there's so many lights.

My first most frequently used app is GoodReader (for academic papers, mostly); second most frequently used app is Safari. Since the iPad's screen is closer to the size of a "real" computer's screen, I don't feel like I need dedicated apps for stuff as frequently as I do on the iPhone.

Other apps I really like:

* Keynote (was pretty rough at launch but is still seeing steady improvements that bring it closer to the desktop version in functionality)* Garageband (I'm not a musician, but it's still fun to play with, and my sister, who is a musician, has cranked out some pretty cool stuff)* Netflix* Pages (okay with an external keyboard, not too great for long-form stuff with the on-screen keyboard)* One of LogMeIn's apps (I have the paid Ignition, but they have a free app now)

On the topic of astronomy.... There were two RIDICULOUSLY bright objects in the sky (kinda northwestish) in Toronto last night. Any one know what they were?

Star Walk. Seriously, if you are at all prone to looking up at the night sky you need this.

EDIT: I notice the description doesn't mention that iPad2 can also do the augmented reality display. Just your camera's view of the sky with identifying labels overlaid. Like regular view it tracks your movements with the gyroscope so your iPad becomes an interactive viewfinder—just hold it up in the air and move it around as if you were looking through the screen at the sky beyond. It's totally cool.

Sadly, I wouldn't be able to use that much, as I live in a city. You can hardly see the stars at all, there's so many lights.

I live Ina city too, but last night was awesomely clear. I wanted to get an astronomy app last night to identify those to objects, but I only have an IPad 1, so no camera. Besides, there's always the open forum. :-D'